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Car fire behind Billerica auto shop under investigation

By Samantha Allen , sallen@lowellsun.com

Posted:
04/13/2014 03:32:08 PM EDT

Sun photo by Samantha Allen. Billerica Fire officials responded to an automotive shop on Boson Road Sunday afternoon for reports of a parked vehicle engulfed in flames. Crews were about to put out the vehicle but the cause of the incident remains under investigation.

BILLERICA -- Billerica Fire officials say they are continuing to investigate strange circumstances surrounding a vehicle parked in the rear of an automotive shop that caught fire Sunday afternoon.

Around 2 p.m., fire officials were called to Automotive Technology and Transmission at 737 Boston Road. The owner on site of the lot, who declined to identify himself, said one of his employee was driving by when he spotted a Nissan Sentra in the back parking lot fully engulfed in flames. The employee then called 911.

The owner said the vehicle was brought in following a crash about two days before.

Fire Capt. John Martell said crews worked to put the vehicle out and the fire prevention investigators would continue to look into the matter. The owner said he believed pinched wires inside the vehicle sparked the fire Sunday afternoon, but Martell said officials are not ready to make an official determination at this time.

Crews also found a severed mannequin doll's head inside the vehicle which struck several responding to the scene as odd.

No other vehicles parked near the burning car were damaged in the incident, according to staff at the site.